1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computerized cooking and, more particularly to a system of food storage, preparation, and delivery in a finished cooked state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Meal preparation for homeowners, small businesses, and other organizations involves planning and management, and normally results in expeditures of significant amounts of time. For example, homeowners and/or operators of small restaurants, jails, nursing homes, etc., typically make food purchases, store food, cook food, and provide the completed meals to the various participants. Advancements in computer technology and the never ending desire to reduce and/or eliminate the time involved in completing typical daily activities, has resulted in the need for a system to completely prepare and deliver pre-packaged foods as complete meals without any labor on the part of the operator or user.
Such a system would prove to be extremely convenient in terms of reduced shopping, elimination of preparation time, and tracking of the aging of foods held in the system in order to reduce the instance of waste/spoilage.
The related art is represented by the following references of interest.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0026325 A1, published Feb. 28, 2002 for Morio Hirahara et al., describes a food management and processing system which can reduce an amount of input operation performed by the user in obtainment of data about food storage and food processing, and can collectively manage food up to a final consumption stage. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0082924 A1, published Jun. 27, 2002 for Bernard G. Koether, describes a bi-directional communication network which provides monitoring, data collection, and control of food service industry operations. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0171674 A1, published Nov. 21, 2002 for Harry G. Paris, describes a system and method for providing food-related information, including recipes, methods, hints, and cooking instructions to a user via an interactive computer at a food-related location, such as a kitchen.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/178066 A1, published Nov. 28, 2002 for Young H. Roh et al., describes a refrigerator capable of transmitting and receiving information over a network and having an automatic food ordering function and a method for operating the same. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0189462 A1, published Dec. 19, 2002 for William Y. Guess, describes an automatic cooking monitor, device, system and method which operate in accordance with the thermal equalization of a heated comestible. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2003/0139843 A1, published Jul. 24, 2003 for Ziqiang Hu et al., describes an automated cooking system that cooks food accompanied by machine-readable indicia, such as a bar code reader read by a reader. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2003/0141295 A1, published Jul. 31, 2003 for Kazuhiko Ishikawa et al., describes a microwave oven system and a microwave oven operating based on information received through a communication network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,310, issued Jun. 4, 1996 to Gary W. Black, Sr. et al., describes a vending machine for automatically dispensing heated and/or cooked food products that is fully self-contained, and capable of effective stand-alone operation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,664, issued Jul. 16, 1996 to Paul Rokowski, describes a remote control cooking apparatus with stackable cookers that cooks a variety of foods at a set temperature, and is activated by a signal transmitted through the user's telephone to a receiver on the apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,595, issued Aug. 12, 1997 to John W. Westbrooks, Jr., and 5,797,445, issued Aug. 25, 1998, to John W. Westbrooks, Jr. et al., describe an integrated refrigeration and rethermalization system for storage of prepared meals in a refrigerated state, rethermalization of the meals in accordance with a rethermalization program, and maintenance of the rethermalized meals at a desired serving temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,972, issued Jun. 27, 2000 to Leonhard May, describes a remotely operated universal programmable oven controller. U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,165 B1, issued Jun. 12, 2001 to Joseph S. Trombley et al., describes an integrated cooling and heating food preparation system which can keep food cool in a certain volume and heat it up in the same volume. U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,710 B1, issued Jun. 19, 2001 to Steven J. Drucker et al., describes an interpretive BIOS machine for controlling the cooking of food or performance of a chemical, physical, or thermodynamic process in any of a plethora of variously sized host microwave ovens or disparate process streams in response to a predetermined code.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,614 B1, issued Apr. 30, 2002 to Jeffrey R. Barnett et al., describes a recipe database that integrates menus for food preparation of multiple dishes based on skill level. U.S. Pat. No. 6,444,965 B1, issued Sep. 3, 2002 to Jae-Ki Ha et al., describes a microwave oven and a controlling method therefore that employs a data receiving station connected to an external device which is connectable to the Internet to receive cooking data from the external device, and a driving section for performing the cooking operation by using by using the cooking data received from the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,695 B1, issued Nov. 19, 2002 to Stanley Harstein, describes a refrigerator-based, computer task controller and a corresponding method.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,818 B1, issued Apr. 15, 2003 to Mohamed A. Ali, describes a cooking appliance that includes a food-heating unit having a computer-controlled temperature controller and an Internet-accessing appliance computer having a computer program. U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,681 B1, issued Apr. 22, 2003 to John A. F. Ross et al., describes a cooking apparatus with a scanning device for reading a tag disposed on a cooking item that includes cooking instructions, and a network connection for receiving updated information relative to a respective cooking item. U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,756 B1, issued May 6, 2003 to Graeme Smith, describes a domestic appliance adapted for interaction with a communications network by the addition of a substantially self-contained discrete communications module connectable to the communications network, the communications module including display means and command entry means that optionally interact with the appliance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,649,659 B1, issued Nov. 11, 2003 to Michael W. Brown et al., describes a method, system, and program for specifying an electronic food menu with food preferences from a universally accessible database. U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,384 B1, issued Dec. 16, 2003 to Wolfgang Daum et al., describes a method for changing a control program that controls at least some operations of an appliance. U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,137 B1, issued Jan. 20, 2004 to Steven J. Drucker et al., describes an interpretative system architecture for a seamless transfer of energy to a physical, chemical, or thermodynamic process stream, or microwave oven.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,690,979 B1, issued Feb. 10, 2004 to Robert M. Smith, describes a method of controlling an intelligent appliance network that allows a user to select a desired instruction sequence to be executed by a remote appliance. U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,890 B2, issued May 4, 2004 to Barbara A. Kish et al., describes a programmable remote controlled apparatus and method for controlling the time and temperature of a cooking or a baking cycle.
European Patent Application Publication No. 0 335 698 A2, published Oct. 4, 1989, describes a fully automated robotized system and method for cooking food products. European Patent Application Publication No. 0 455 477 A2, published Nov. 6, 1991, describes an automated food cooking system for use in a quick service or fast food restaurant. Japan Patent Application Publication No. 2002-92120, published Mar. 29, 2002, describes a cooking menu information provision system, a cooking menu information providing device, and a cooking menu information distributing device. Japan Patent Application Publication No. 2002-236798, published Aug. 23, 2002, describes a device and method for managing food in a refrigerator.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent Application Publication No. WO 03/038652 A1, published May 8, 2003, describes an intelligent breadmaker appliance which receives a plurality of program recipes from a network that are executed by scanning with a scanner a symbol and associating the scanned symbol with one of the plurality of program recipes while keeping a real-time clock synchronized and correctly set by receiving period time synchronization messages. Japan Patent Application Publication No. 2003-256647, published Sep. 12, 2003, describes a recipe-animation associating device and a recipe-animation association associating program.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a system of food storage, preparation, and delivery, in a finished cooked state solving the aforementioned problems is desired.